


Concerning Duty

by Xylianna



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Angst, M/M, No happy ending here, Tumblr Prompt, Verse 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 04:19:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14866476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xylianna/pseuds/Xylianna
Summary: It's Gladio's wedding day.





	Concerning Duty

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Sauronix](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sauronix/gifts), [ArtzGromet](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtzGromet/gifts).



> I received prompts from two lovely ladies.  
> From Sauronix: After alternate ending, Gladio marries a woman to carry on the Amicitia line (sent to me when I requested angst prompts)
> 
> From artzgromet: "ENOUGH!" He shouted, his hands trembling by his side + tipping point for Gladnis (sent as a random prompt, probably not intended for angst but... I'm sorry >_<)
> 
> Beta'd by the ever-amazing aliatori!

Ignis studied his reflection in the mirror solemnly, though it really wasn’t necessary. His suit was as immaculate as his clothing always was and not a hair was out of place. The scars marring his fine-boned features only added to his beauty, enhancing the sharp planes and brilliant eyes.

Today was Gladio’s wedding day.

Ignis pursed his lips, sighing at the way his forehead wrinkled with his frown. He had been asked to sacrifice so many things in his life: a normal childhood, his own selfish hopes and dreams - Six, he’d given his life in service of his king, only to have it restored by that same king’s magic.

But it was never enough. There was always another hard choice, always another little piece of himself to be whittled away by the demands placed upon him as the Royal Chamberlain.

This was, however, the first time it was Gladiolus who was stealing away a part of his soul, and Ignis found himself feeling resentful, angry, and deeply saddened.

Today was Gladio’s wedding day. As it wasn’t every day the king's Shield took a wife, half of Insomnia would be there. Not to mention their foreign guests. Ignis was not only expected to attend - he had been entrusted with planning the entire thing.

And little pieces of himself fell and shattered with every call to the caterer; with every visit to the seamstress.

As Ignis continued to study his reflection, he watched the tears paint wet lines down his face. He knew that he was expected to be happy for Gladio. He was fulfilling his destiny, forging a political bond to sire the next generation of Amicitia heirs, continuing his ancient and storied house’s line. Having lost Iris in the Darkness, it fell on Gladio to father a son or daughter who would one day be the Shield to the king’s child.

But none of that truly mattered to Ignis. Perhaps it was uncharacteristically selfish of him, but all he cared about was that some faceless noblewoman from Altissia - _hadn’t that accursed city taken enough from him already?_ \- would be marrying his lover of fifteen years.

Ignis would never be able to call Gladio husband. But she would.

Ignis would no longer get to wake up entwined in the safety of those muscular, tattooed arms. But she would.

No, Ignis was expected to gracefully step back, to put aside his own desires for the umpteenth time and do so with a smile on his face. Gladio had assured him their relationship would continue. He’d apparently even spoken to his bride-to-be who didn’t seem particularly bothered in her noble husband had a male lover, provided she was the only one who would bear his children.

She’d get the title, the family, the status. Ignis would trade in all that and more just for one more morning waking up beside his beloved.

Ignis clutched a hand to his roiling stomach and watched as the color drained from his face. Sweat broke out on his brow, and he realized that the breakfast he’d managed to choke down wasn’t going to stay down. Thankfully, he made it to the lavatory before he vomited. It was there that Gladio found him, of course. He wasn’t even to be spared that indignity on this scourge-blighted day.

“Iggy, babe, you okay?” Gladio squatted down and rubbed Ignis’s back. “You sick? What’s wrong?”

Ignis forced himself to neither flinch away from, nor sink into, his lover’s touch.

Gods. He couldn’t do this. Gladio asked too much, damn him.

He lifted red-rimmed eyes to that molten amber gaze he so adored. “I’m not okay, Gladio. Why would you ask such a foolish question?” His voice was hot with anger. Ignis felt no need to hold back his emotions. Not now, not today.

Not on Gladiolus Amicitia’s Astrals-forsaken wedding day.

Thick brown eyebrows lifted in surprise at Ignis’s vitriol. “Uh… I asked because I care about you. I come in and find you throwing up, I’m gonna ask why.”

Pushing to his feet, Ignis wiped his mouth with a towel and stalked out of the bathroom. “You can’t honestly be this blind?” he hissed, pivoting to glare at Gladio. “You ask me for my blessing on your political marriage… you ask me to _plan it_ … you reward me with being your side piece in perpetuity. _And you wonder what’s wrong?_ ” he shouted, hands fisting at his sides.

“Ignis, we talked about this,” Gladio said calmly, raising his hands in a placatory gesture. “You’re the one I love. You _know_ that. But I need to sire an heir, and the child has to have my blood. Adoption wouldn’t do. The Council would never recognize an illegitimate scion, so I have to get married. It’s the only way. An Amicitia must be Shield to the next Lucis Caelum.” His face was serious, and while betimes the sternness of that weathered face would melt Ignis’s resolve, today he hardened his heart. “I have to fulfill my duty to king and country. I thought you of all people would understand that.”

Ignis gave himself credit for listening to that entire pile of coeurl-shit without interrupting. But when Gladio spoke of duty, he lost his last tenuous hold on control.

“ _Enough!_ he shouted, his hands trembling where they hung at his sides. “Our best friend is the King! You don’t think that he’d make an exception?” Despite his resolve to stay strong, Ignis’s eyes filled anew with tears, and his voice quavered. “You should be marrying _me_ , Gladiolus. We could adopt a child, and Noct would accept him or her as his heir’s Shield. I know it!” He stepped closer, lifting to cup Gladio’s cheeks in his hands, forcing a smile to his quivering lips. “We’ve done so much for Noctis, for Lucis. Surely he’d grant us this one small boon.”

Gladio lifted his hands and covered Ignis’s. For a moment, it brought to mind Ignis’s memory of their first kiss - a stolen moment behind the gymnasium, Ignis throwing caution to the wind and reaching out to Gladio; Gladio reciprocating, that one clumsy kiss spawning a relationship that endured all matter of hardship.

Until now.

Ignis’s breath caught in this throat when Gladio peeled his hands off his face. Stepping back as if burned, Ignis shoved his hands in his pockets, not trusting himself to resist the temptation to reach out again. To beg, to plead: pick me, choose me, marry me.

_Love me._

“I suppose that tells me all I need to know,” Ignis said coldly. He turned and walked out, not looking back. He continued to walk until he’d left the Citadel, and then pressed onwards until he reached the Eastern gate.

Oh, he’d return. He’d do his duty. What choice had he? This was what he was trained to do from such a tender age.

But, just this one time, he’d be derelict. He’d miss the ceremony; he’d skip the reception.

Ignis walked beyond what used to delineate the border of the Wall. He continued on until he found a secluded copse. Sitting in the shadows of the ancient oaks, he lowered his face into his hands and sobbed.

Today was Gladio’s wedding day.

**Author's Note:**

> *hands out tissues*
> 
> Thanks for reading. <3


End file.
